Sat · September 23, 2017

Doors: 3:00 pm / Show: 3:30 pm(event ends at 10:00 pm)

$55

On Sat Sept 23rd, the Earle Baum Center of the Blind & SOMO Concerts invite you to the 10th year of the tremendously successful Earle Fest benefit. This pop-up festival brings two stages of national and local acts along with sight loss education, food trucks, artists and local vendors. Headlining this year are East L.A. Legends Los Lobos joined by Bay Area party band California Honeydrops, Award Winning Songwriter Tift Merritt, and The Songs of Audrey Auld performed by Nina Gerber, Pam Delgado & Jeri Jones on the main stage. The locally focused Hopmonk stage in the Redwood Grove features, Sonomacana boot stompers Timothy O’Neil Band, International Bluesy-grass Dirty Cello, righteous shadow rockers Charley Peach and Healdsburg’s Emily Lois.

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Los Lobos were already East L.A. neighborhood legends, Sunset Strip regulars and a Grammy Award winning band (Best Mexican-American/Tejano Music Performance) by the time they recorded their major label debut How Will The Wolf Survive? in 1984. Although the album’s name and title song were inspired by a National Geographic article about real life wolves in the wild, the band—David Hidalgo, Louie Perez, Cesar Rosas, Conrad Lozano and Steve Berlin—saw parallels with their struggle to gain mainstream rock success while maintaining their Mexican roots. Perez, the band’s drummer, once called their powerhouse mix of rock, Tex-Mex, country, folk, R&B, blues and traditional Spanish and Mexican music “the soundtrack of the barrio.” Three decades, two more Grammys, a worldwide smash single (“La Bamba”) and thousands of rollicking performances across the globe later, Los Lobos is surviving quite well -- and still jamming with the same raw intensity as they had when they began in that garage in 1973.

The California Honeydrops don’t just play music—they throw parties. Led by dynamic vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Lech Wierzynski, and drawing on diverse musical influences from Bay Area R&B, funk, Southern soul, Delta blues, and New Orleans second-line, the Honeydrops bring vibrant energy and infectious dance-party vibes to their shows. They’ve taken the party all over the world, playing festivals of all kinds and touring widely across North America, Europe and Australia. In 2016 the Honeydrops were honored to support Bonnie Raitt on her North America release tour—and in the past have been privileged to support the likes of B.B. King, Allen Toussaint, Buddy Guy, and Dr. John. Whether in those high-profile performances or in more intimate venues where the band itself can leave the stage and get down on the dance floor, the California Honeydrops’ shared vision and purpose remain: to make the audience dance and sing.

Tift Merritt is a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and recording artist. The Americana Music Association nominated Tift for 2004 Album, Artist and Song of the Year. "Broken," the first single from Another Country, parked itself at #1 on the Americana Airplay Chart for weeks, and was nominated for Song of the Year by the Americana Music Association. Tift Merritt’s music defies categorization. Her uniquely satisfying stew of rock and roll, soul, folk and country has record stores scratching their heads and audiences dancing in the aisles and telling their friends. There’s food for thought there, too—Tift knew she wanted to be a writer before she knew she wanted to be a musician, and her lyrics are carefully and finely crafted.

Audrey Auld was one of a kind, equal parts feisty, hilarious and true. It was through her songs that she was able to venture into the dark places of life and shine a humorous light upon them all while reminding us that we are all just "spiritual beings having a human experience". Audrey left us on Aug 9th, 2015 leaving an incredible legacy of music that should continue to be heard. Nina Gerber, Jeri Jones and Pam Delgado have humbly stepped forward to be among the first to keep bringing her songs to you. All three have at one time or another been honored to have shared her stage, most notably the incomparable Nina Gerber who has performed with her on and off since 2005. Pam Delgado and Jeri Jones (2/5 of the band Blame Sally), in addition to several public appearances, joined her at San Quentin prison to perform songs from her album Hey Warden, a collaboration with her beloved writing students on "the inside". Please join them for a celebration of Audrey and her music, it will be a special night indeed!

Timothy O'Neil is a songwriter from Temecula, California, currently submerged in the Sonoma County Americana scene, Timothy O'Neil Band bares its influences of punk-rock and mixes it into songs, nodding to genres of bluegrass, folk, and singer-songwriter. Be prepared to sing along and have one hell of a good time.

From China to Italy, and all over the U.S., Dirty Cello brings the world a high energy and unique spin on blues and bluegrass. Led by vivacious cross-over cellist, Rebecca Roudman, Dirty Cello is cello like you’ve never heard before. From down home blues with a wailing cello to virtuosic stompin’ bluegrass, Dirty Cello is a band that gets your heart thumping and your toes tapping!